Somalia Bans DP World, Says Contract with Somaliland Null

Somalia has banned Dubai ports operator DP World from operating
in Somalia, saying that a contract that the company signed last
year with the breakaway Somaliland region to develop an economic
zone is null and void.

It is unclear how Somalia's federal government could enforce the
ban given Somaliland's semi-autonomous status.

But parliament's unanimous passing of the resolution banning DP
World from working in the country underscored growing rivalries
in the strategic Horn of Africa region over the Dubai state-owned
port operator's investments.

"Any agreement signed with DP World is null and void since it
opposes the constitution, the rule of foreign investment in
Somalia, and other rules of the country," read the resolution,
which was approved late on Monday and published by Somalia's
state new agency.

"DP World openly violated the independence and unity of Somalia
and so DP World is banned from Somalia," it said.

A spokesman for DP World did not immediately respond to a request
for comment on Tuesday.

Somaliland's small port of Berbera exports camels to the Middle
East and imports food and other items.

It also provides some transport links for neighbouring Ethiopia,
a landlocked country that has friendly relations with the
breakaway region.

Last month neighbouring Djibouti ended its contract with DP World
to run its Doraleh Container Terminal, citing failure to resolve
a dispute that began in 2012.

Two days after the government cancelled the contract, Djibouti's
ports and free zone's authority accused DP World in a statement
of using "aggressive tactics such as the deliberate slowing" of
the development of Doraleh port "in favour of their main asset at
Jebel Ali", a major commercial port in Dubai owned by the
company.

The company, one of the world's biggest port operators, called
Djibouti's move an illegal seizure and said it had begun new
arbitration proceedings before the London Court of International
Arbitration.

DP World said last week it had signed a final agreement with
Somaliland to develop the zone and expected to break ground in
the 12 square km project later this year.

Situated at the northern tip of east Africa on the Gulf of Aden -
one of the busiest trade routes in the world - Somaliland broke
away from Somalia in 1991 and has been relatively peaceful since.

The region of 4 million people has not been internationally
recognised but has recently attracted sizeable investments from
the Gulf.

Last year Somaliland's government agreed to allow the United Arab
Emirates to build a military base alongside the Berbera port.

(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh Additional reporting by Alexander
Cornwell; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Maggie Fick and
Louise Heavens)